Sawyer, Rita - Her Mr. Wrong [What Are Friends For 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

She knew it was irrational, but the cab of the truck seemed so much smaller with him in it. Thankfully there was a console between them. She needed to get them out of this truck and put some distance between them. Neither of them said anything, as she drove up to the big, blue-and-white building. She parked in front of the fourth bay door. They had four slots for repairs, a fifth slot that was used for the restorations her father and brother Allen did, and there was a lot in the back where they stored some cars and parked the seven tow vehicles they owned.

Dooley’s was a pretty big operation. Amy did her part. She was responsible for dispatch and bookkeeping, unless it was Wednesday night. She couldn’t help but wonder if he thought they were small potatoes compared to his business. She’d done her best not to let him see her reaction to the business card he’d handed her earlier, but she was even surer now than the night of Lainey’s wedding that he wasn’t in her league. Not that she’d ever had a doubt about it.

“I’ll leave the car on the truck so my brothers can decide what slot they want it in,” she explained as she shut the truck down.

They climbed out of the truck, and he followed her to the door of the building. She unlocked the door and hurried inside to punch the okay code into the alarm system. Slade followed her, taking his time to subtly check things out. She led him upstairs to the office. Amy paused at the sink in back of the room and washed her hands. Slade walked around the loft, coming to a stop at the windows that overlooked the work space below. Amy walked over and sat down behind her desk. It was foolish, but being there gave her a confidence a slight boost, knowing this was her territory.

He lifted one of the pictures off the table by the window. “Jace mentioned you had brothers, but he forgot to tell me how many and how big they are.”

“How do you know those are my brothers?” She didn’t think she looked like any of them.

“It’s in the way they look at you. Protective and loving, but not romantically possessive.”

“You get all that from a few pictures?” She laughed, not wanting to admit how right he was.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve seen the same look on my face in pictures of me and my sister. That’s how I feel most of the time.”

“You and your sister are close?” She had no idea why she asked.

Amy really didn’t want to know. The less she knew about him, the better off she would be. He was a friend of Jace’s, and his sister was a customer. That’s where things between them stood and were going to stay.

“We are. I can see you’re close to you brother and father.” He paused and looked around the room, and she knew what was coming next. “So you’re the only girl?”

“My daddy only needed to make one because I’m perfect. He says so all the time.”

“He’s not worried about giving a little sprite like you a huge ego, huh.” He turned and looked back out over the garage.

Amy smiled at his back. Maybe she’d scared him off? That was what she wanted, wasn’t it? For him to go away and let her forget she’d ever laid eyes on him. Not that she could forget the way he kissed her and made her want him. Hell, she’d been trying for the past month, and every time she thought she’d managed it and let down her guard, he would invade her dreams and she’d have to start all over.

“I don’t see any pictures of your mother around. Are you sure your father didn’t steal you from a fairy hill or something?”

“I’m positive. I look just like my grandmother. As for my mother, she couldn’t handle a house filled with testosterone. She waited until I was two, and then she went off to find herself.” It was so easy saying that all to his back.

When he turned and looked at her, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He lowered his gaze to the floor, and she wanted to run and console him, though it struck her he should be the one consoling her. “It’s okay. Lots of kids don’t have two parents. It’s a sign of the times, I guess.”

He nodded and looked away. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. The silence was more than Amy could stand.

Though she told herself to move the conversation onto something, hell, anything less personal, she heard herself ask, “So other than Jenny, do you have any family?”

Why the hell did she ask that?
What the heck had happened to her brains? She knew the answer to her questions, even if she didn’t want to acknowledge that deep down she wanted to know more about him. He walked over and held out his hand. Silly ninny she was, she put hers in it and let him tug her to her feet. His touch sent a surge through her entire body. Dressed in jeans and scuffed work boots, she should have felt grungy next to him, but she had entirely the opposite reaction. Oddly, she felt beautiful and desired. It was purely feminine, and she loved it.

Together they sat down on one of the beat-up leather sofas. “Nope, it’s just me, her, and her two boys, Conner and Matthew. Jenny and I lost our parents about five years ago in a plane crash. She was pregnant with Conner and got so distraught, I thought I was going to lose her, too. Luckily she pulled out of it and focused on the baby long enough to start to get over their deaths.”

She found herself leaning toward him. “And what helped you heal, Slade?”

He smiled as he reached over and ran his fingers through her hair, letting it fall on her shoulder. “Work. At that point, my ideas were little more than just drawings in a sketch pad. Knowing that it was just me and Jenny, I wanted to make sure she and the baby would always be taken care of. I took what little my parents left me and used it to launch my company.”

“What about Conner and Matthew’s father?” She turned, resting her arm along the back of the couch next to his.

“Kip was never really there, even though he’d had plenty of chances. He had a choice to make, and he chose to run off with his secretary. Of course, that was after he swiped fifty thousand dollars from the company he’d been working for.”

“Holy shit. How did your sister handle that?” With the help of her friends, she would have hunted the bastard down and killed him and the floozy he ran off with.

Somehow he’d managed to get so close to her that their shoulders were touching. “She had two boys to take care of, and the employer was very forgiving, since the money was insured.”

“You were the employer.” He smiled and nodded. “You just let him go?”

“I didn’t say that. I haven’t gotten to where I am without making some pretty influential friends. Kip won’t be bothering my sister or anyone else for about thirty years, less with good behavior. But he never was one for following the rules.”

“Does your sister know all this?”

“We sat down and had a heart-to-heart on the day Matthew was born. It was my gift to her. She laughed until she cried. One thing is for sure, that son of a bitch will never come near any of them again.”

“Good.”

“Agreed. It did have its drawbacks, though. My sister has developed an independent streak, which I admire to a point, but at times, it can interfere with her and the boys having what they deserve.”

“Have you ever considered what you think they deserve and what they need may not be the same thing?” Men and women weren’t always on the same page when it came to what kids needed.

His chuckle surprised her. “You two are going to get along very well.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You both like putting me in my place.”

“Which would be?”

“Anywhere you want me.” His lips hovered over hers, and Amy knew it was up to her to make the final move.

She closed the distance, pressing her lips to his. It didn’t last more than a minute, but when she moved to pull back, he followed. His hands gripped her shoulders firmly, but not painfully. This time when his lips touched hers, there was no question of who was in control. She didn’t even try to fight him. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let herself enjoy being held. Once she did, it didn’t take long for her to get lost in the kiss. When they came up for air, Slade kissed his way from her mouth to her ear.

His warm breath on her skin made her shiver. He nibbled on her earlobe, and she moaned, tilting her head to give him better access. When he tugged her into his lap, she went willingly. Slade groaned as he pulled her against his chest. He managed to slide his hand between them, inside her work shirt and cupped her breast. Amy arched into his touch. For a few mindless minutes, she forgot about all the reasons why they were such a bad match and just concentrated on how good he made her feel. Slade had just started to lay her down when a buzzing noise filled the air.

She sighed, and he froze. “Someone’s at the gate.”

Slade growled, sitting back up. The loud blaring of a horn and the ringing of their cell phones had her sliding out of his embrace. Her feet hit the floor, and she turned her back on him. What had they just been about to do? She had no idea how far she would have let him take things, and that scared her. He groaned and dug his phone out of his coat pocket. She hurried to her desk and scooped hers up. Lainey, thank God. She glanced back at Slade, who was just sitting there staring at her.

“Your ride is here.”
And not a moment too soon.

Chapter Three

Amy glanced at her phone and groaned. Slade must have gotten her number from Jace or his sister, but just because he kept calling didn’t mean she had to answer. She didn’t care that she was being a coward. It came down to self-preservation, and she was going to do whatever she could to head off the impending disaster that Slade had written all over him. She glanced out the window at her brothers hustling around the shop below. Thanks to the soundproofing the office had, she couldn’t hear a thing, but from the way their bodies moved, she figured they had the radio on.

She wasn’t needed here, not today anyway. It was her own fault. She’d spent the weekend doing the paperwork she usually spent Mondays doing. That was Slade’s fault. She’d tried everything to get him out of her head, and work was what finally had done the trick. There was only one thing left for her to do. She walked over and picked up her phone. A quick press of the buttons and it was too late to change her mind.

“Hey, Amy.” Dianne’s cheerful greeting made her relax a little.

“Hi. You busy?”

“Not really, why?” The suspicion in Dianne’s voice was totally warranted.

“I need to get out of here. How about we get some lunch, and then you and I can find me something utterly fabulous and quite slutty to wear tonight?” Dianne hated shopping just as much as Amy did, but she knew her friend was about to pass up the chance to experiment on her.

“Want me to pick you up?” she asked.

Dianne’s quick response made her wonder. “Are you having trouble with your story?”

“No. But I forgot to go to the store, and I’m starving. I can be there in ten minutes.”